Signaling system for railroads.



PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

M. W. ZABEL.

SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR RAILROADS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1907.

INVENTOR.

r B m WITNESS 5.-

zen of the United States, residing at Chicago,

' roads, of which the following is a full, clear,

MAX w. ZABE'L, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR RAILROADS.

Specification of Letters Patent. I i

Patented June 530, 1908.

Application filed Api'il 13, 1907. Serial No. 368,025.

To all whom it may concern: I Be it known that I, MAX W. ZABEL, a c1t1- in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Signaling Systems for Railconcise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. I

My invention relates to signaling systems for railroads-and has for its object the provision of an improved system whereby any block in a train despatchers division may receive a selective signal to the'exclusion of all other blocks in the same section, and means whereby positive indication is given to the plates the provision of an improved device.

train despatcher or operator that the selec-,

tive signal which is set is properly received; or for instance, if the system is applied to signals which can be set or released from the train despatchers office, my system contemwhereby positive indication is received at the sending station that the signal has been set or released, which indication is sent b some operating portion of the signal itself or its associated mechanism.

I have shown in a coending application Serial No. 368,026, filed ril 13, 1907, a selective signaling system wiiereby signals can be selectively set or released along a railroad right-of-wa and I have shown my present invention 0 signaling back as applied to this particular system of selective signaling, I will describe my invention more in detail in connectionwith the accompanying drawing illustrating one embodiment thereof. I

I have shown in the drawing, rails a b which indicate a complete train des atchers division which We can assume int 's case for instance to be 80 miles long, and this divisionis divided into eight se arate blocks preferably between stations an each block is provided with a signal suitably placed, which signals I have numbered 0 d efg h i and 7c. In my im- 1 proved system each one of these signals 0 d e,

etc. can be operated without any of the remaining si nals, thus to set the danger signal inthe blocIi, or to release said danger signal, and in case it is found necessary to provide more than one signal for each block as it un- 'of said relafy master'signalc, d, e, etc. is set at danger or clear. This is described in my co-pending 7 application. I Will describe briefly the o eration of the signal is when the relay 1 of t 's' station 7c is operated. It closes a circuit from the batmotor 3, through line wire 4, relay 5, contact 6, spring 7, 's rlng 8, back to thefree pole of battery w. This starts the operation of the motor 3 which draws the target 9 intoaplace and sets it at danger. While this is going on relay 5 has closed its armature 10 and current flows from the battery 'w through coils 2 2 of the motor, relay 5, through the armature '10 and its associated contact u to free pole o tery circuit on the motor 3 and keeping the target 9 in its operated position. At the same time also spring 7 comes into contact with spring 11 and changes the circuit conditions. The reason for this is that relay 1 having just received one impulse is allowed to go back to its normal position, the target 9 hayingf operated. Now then a second im-- pulse 0 e relay 1 will again close the armature against its contact 6 and by reason of the changed circuit conditions of the springs 7 and 11 a short circuit .is now rovided around the relay 5 which short circuit can be tery w through coils 2 2 of an operating i battery w, thus closing the at I the battery current and allowing the target 9 to fall down and againassume its clear posi' tion.

The operation of the targets thus depends upon the successive impulses of the relays -1,

one of which is provided for each signal sta' tion. -.To operate the relay 1 selectively any suitable system can be employed, the system prefer to use, however, being the sa'me\ as described in my co-pending application and the operation of which consists essentially in providing a relay 12 at each signal station in connection with'a relay 1, which relay 12 and relay .1 .are suitably connected to line wires m and n. I rovide two sets of batteries 0 'and p which atteries can furnish negative and positivecontinuous current as required.

vAlso a generatorqwhich can furnish alternatin' current.

The relay 1 o erates with the a ternatin current, and .t e relays 12 operate with ect current. The relays 12 35 rent through therelays 12.

are so arranged that they are responsive selectively to negative battery current or positive battery current. It is obvious that by connecting either ositive or negative battery current to eit er line wire 'In or n, two relays 12 will always operate, thus getting a selection of two stations. To get a selection of the proper station of these two which are operated by battery current, Iconnect the relays 1 at these particular two stations under consideration, so that one relay 1 is connected between wire m and ground, and the other relay 1 is connected between line wire it and ground. Then I use alternating current in conjunction with the battery current to selectively operate either one of the relays 1 which are connected between the different line conductors and ground, thus a selection of either of the eight is obtained. The relays 12 of course are connected between I either line wire m and n to ground. In some cases it is apparent both alternating current and continuous current will be on the line wires m and n at the same time, and in that case it is not necessary to use the generator g, because the resultant current of the alternating generator and the battery will be in the nature of a pulsating current, which I prefer to furnish through an interrupter 1, which gives either pulsating positive or pulsating negative current. Suitable condensers w are provided to prevent direct current from going through the relays 1 and suitable impedance coils 'y are provided to prevent the objectionable passage of alternating cur- "Suitable spring combinations, eight in number, are provided whichcorrespond reing key 8.

spectively to each sub-station and which are referably mounted in the form of one ring: By operating either one of the spring combinations the desired one of the signals 0, d, e, etc. is operated without 0 erating any other. Thismanner of signa g is more fully described inmy co-pending application, but it is thoughtthis explanation will be clear. To make theselection of these signalsv eflective, it is necessary to rovide suitable means whereby positive in 'cation is given'to the sender, or operator of the spring mechanisms 8 that the particular sig nal which he is operating is actually perform-- ing its allotted function. To provide this result, I employpreferably on the movable art of the motor 3 or its associated mechan- 1sm, acontactplate 13, thiscontact plate 13 is different in the difierent stations 0, d, e,

and f, in that it is provided with teeth corre-- sponding to its particular station. Thus contact plate. 13 at station 0 has one tooth,

. contact 13 at station (1 has two teeth and so on up to station 7c whether the contact plate 13 has eight teeth. I connect this contact plate 13- with :one pole in thiscase negative of the battery w, and the positive pole of this battery to the line wire n. I provide a spring contact 14 which is connected to the other line wire m.

Now when the motor 3 begins to operate, which will be after an impulse has been sent over the relay 1, the contact plate 13 will be brought successively into association through cessive impulses from the battery to over the line wires m and 'n, which impulses correspond in number or. form to the particular station from which they are sent, thus sending a selective indication back to the center that the chosen signal is performing its function. In this way a test can be made every day to see that all mechanism is in operating form without going over the various signals distributed along the extensive right-of-way. To properly give these selective return indications to the operator at the central station who manipulates the spring combinations 8, I provide a relay t which is connected across the line wires'm and n, through an impedance coil '11, which relay closes a battery circuit through a sounder '0, and which sounder registers the number of im ulses sent up from the o crating signal t ereby to give positive in 'cation of the pro er performance of its function by sai signal. Of course other suitable means may be provided for registering or suitably indicating the return indications of these various signals.

I have-herein shown what appears to be the most simple form which my invention may take, and while Ihave herein shown and particularly described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement as hereln set forth, but

Having thus described the preferred embodiment thereof what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A signaling system for railways comprising a signal sendin station, a plurality of signals distributed a ong the right-of-way of a railroad track, electro magnetic means associated with each a signal for operating same, circuit changing devices in connection with apparatus for supplying currents of different electrical character at the sending station for causing the operation of any desired electro magnetic means to the exclusion of the remaining said means to operate the signals, and electro magnetic 'means for re- 7 ceiving a return indication from the. operating signals. Y 2. A signaling system for railways comprising a si a1 sendin station, a plurality of signals dlstributed a ong the right-of-way of a railroad track, an electro magnetic device, to control the operation of each signal, means at thesignal sending station including currents of difierent electrical character to operate the desired electro magnetic device 0 a predetermined signal, switching devices its teeth with the spring 14 and send sucat the sending station for supplyin currents to control the reverse operatlon o the said pro-determined signal, and an electric device at the signal sending station for receiving a return indication from the operating signals.

3. A signaling system for railways comprising a signal sendin station, a plurality of signals distributed a ong the right-of-way of a railroad track, an electro vmagnetic device to control the operation of each signal, means at the si nal sending station including currents of (lifl erent electrical character to operate the desired electro magnetic device 0 apre-determined signal, switching apparatus at the sending station for supplyin current to control the reverse operation 0 said predetermined signal, and an electric device at the signal sending station for receiving a selective return indication from the operating signals. a

4. A signaling system for railways comprising a signal sendin station, a plurality of signals distributed a ong the right-of-way of a railroad track, an electro magnetic de vice to control the operation of each of the said signals, switching apparatus associated with each device whereby one operation of said device will cause the movement of its associated signal in one direction and a second operation of said device will cause the operation of its associated signal in a different manner, means at the signal sending station including currents of different electrical character to cause the desired operation of the electro magnetic device at any pre-determined signal, and electro magnetic appliances at the signal. sending station for receiving a selective return indication from the operating signals.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this sixth day of April, A. D; 1907.

MAX w. ZABEL.

Witnesses:

F. B. Boron, W. L. DOLMAN. 

